Dikhow river
Views of the embankment of Dikhow river. Image - Northeast Now

Nazira MLA and leader of opposition in Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia has written separate letters to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, State Revenue Minister Bhabesh Kalita and State Water Resources Minister Keshab Mahanta regarding the slumped down embankment of Dikhow river at Nazira and sanction of schemes under the State Disaster Response Fund.

In his letters, Saikia has stated that unprecedented flood of Dikhow river on July 31 had caused huge damages to his constituency.

“The major embankments of Dikhow left bank were over-topped in many places. And the situation’becomes more aggravated when the flood waters recedes,” Saikia said.

Saikia further said that Dikhow’s left bank embankment from Upper Nazira to AT Road near Saukajan Xatra had slumped down in three portions for a length of about 300 metres causing a breach like situation.

Regarding the threat to the people of his constituency, Saikia said that the area was thickly populated with villages and vast tracts of cultivable land.

The area is in need of protection and the road communication needs to be restored, he stated.

Immediate measures to Dikhow bund left bank from upper Nazira to AT Road to restore the breach like damages near Saukajan Xatra for 2018-19, the total cost amounting to Rs 450 lakh has already been prepared.

Saikia said that this scheme had been prepared and been sent to be sanctioned for the past three years but no action was being taken.

In the eventuality that another wave of floods occurred like the last one on July 31, the whole place would get inundated and therefore it is urgently needed to implement the measures to protect the Dhopabar Mouza and Nazira Mouza, the Nazira MLA stated.

Smita Bhattacharyya is Northeast Now Correspondent in Jorhat. She can be reached at: [email protected]